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When I was in high-school, I remember my friends(Andy P in particular) on my lacrosse team calling me ‘Camel Jockey, Sand Nigger and Towel Head,’ because I was brown, was a first generation South East Asian American, fairly smart, going to a nice college that had a pretty good Lacrosse Team…ehem Hopkins, and was headed to medical school. I found the attention….um lets say….deeply endearing and deeply concerning. It was ‘ok’ to get this kind of attention at first, but I realized that – granted my friends who’s developmental quotient was probably in the ranks of borderline mild intellectual disability and getting worse because of our association in football and lacrosse which lead to major concussions – the reason that they used these names was because of one thing. ‘Okay one things’, if used in an Indian accent – ignorance, fear, and the need for attention.

Number one, I have never seen a camel, and no one in my family had ever been to a desert um…EVER.

I am a Vaisnava, which really just believes that developing a true relationship with God is the point of life.

However, if I did come from the desert, which I heard can be really hot I would wear clothes that cover my body so I don’t get burned, cause that might help me to not get um….skin problems. I digress…

My family was not from a village, but a question that I was asked was , ‘why was a guy who was first generation American beating these guys academically and in Lax.’ Well Andy P,’ I said ‘Its cause I have Indian Culture and my parents grew up with lacrosse sticks in their hands, with red dots on their heads.’ Andy quickly smiled, ‘I love the red dot,’ but the rest were a bit slow at picking up on the entendre. Too many head to head contact injuries I suppose.

But then the other day I hear about this guy named…um…Martin Luther King. He may have said,

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truth to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.

And then the other day I also read about this guy Juan Williams.

‘“…when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they’re identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous”?

Really Juan. So what if someone said, “identifying themselves first and foremost as white men.” I bet you would not get pissed at all. This is reasonable.

‘White men are scary, right?’ Don’t say that to your people at Fox!

But if someone said,

“…when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Black garb and I think, you know, they’re identifying themselves first and foremost as Black, I get worried. I get nervous”?

I think you would get pissed. I think you would go as far as to maybe fire them?

Or even take away the race card,

“…when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Christian garb and I think, you know, they’re identifying themselves first and foremost as Christian, I get worried. I get nervous”?

I think you would get pissed. I think you would go as far as to maybe fire them?”

I think we forgot about our ol’ buddy Martin Luther, who was emphatic about ‘all men.’

In addition to this it makes me wonder. Do we really get scared when people are confident about their faith in God? Is this offensive, a reason for fear, or really is it beautiful that they choose to reinforce their love for God no matter where they go? Isn’t that what America stands for?

I wonder if Lord Jesus Christ gets scared when he walks onto a plane and sees a person in Muslim garb? I doubt it. He didn’t have a spot of fear while walking towards his crucifixion.

I bet a devout Christian follower doesn’t feel fear, and if he does, he says,

‘My dear Lord Jesus Christ, please protect me from this fear, and please help me eliminate this fear from my heart because truly you are the controller and I am your puppet.’

If it was lord Jesus Christ he would probably refer to your faith being in need of reinforcement by reading the Bible, and maybe even the Koran.

A certain five year old may have referred to as a ‘Scaredy Cat’, Mr. Juan Williams. How do you feel?